Method of hand knitting



Feb' V18 1,936- I N. GILPIN l METHOD 0F HAND KNITTING Filed June 11, 1934 Patented Feb. 18, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT.I OFFICE Claims.

My invention relates to a method of knitting garments by hand through the use of two pointed needles, in distinction to the operation of crocheting in which a single hooked needle is used;

5 and the object of the invention is to provide a novel method of incorporating an elastic thread into the' fabric to counteract the tendency of the garments to stretch permanently and sag with wear and particularly with repeated washings,

especially when the garment is made of soft yarns such as silk boucl, Angora or other light, soft wools; or in the case of ribbed bands at the neck, waist and wrists, even when heavier or less elastic'wools, cottons or linens are used.

The permanent stretch which causes the garment to sag usually occurs with wool fabrics in a horizontal direction, that is, in the direction transverse to the fabric While being knitted; and

, the method which I have devised for overcoming this consists in drifting or fioating through the knitted fabric a series of transverse elastic threads which stretch with the transverse stretching of the knitted fabric so as toallow the garment to fit the body and to freely accommodate itself to the movement of the body but which serve to take up such stretch and return the knitted stitches of the fabric to their normal shapes and relationships when the garment is relieved of the forces tending to stretch it.

With silk boucle' or similar fabrics there will be also some stretch of l the yarn itself; and in any fabric there will be stretch both ways due to looseness of the stitches. The vertical stretch is to a large measure prevented in either case, by

the transverse elastic thread.

` The elastic thread may be carried through each transverse row of knitted stitches, or throughalternate rows, or through a lesser number of rows as circumstances may require. l

'Ihe fabric in many cases is-made by alternate knitting and purling, one row of stitches being made by knitting and the next by purling, using the term as it is used in hand knitting so that the loops are all drawn to lthe same side of the fabric giving a smooth surface on this side and a ribbed surface on the other or reverse side; andV when this is the case the strands -cf the elastic thread will be woveninto the fabric on the reverse side, so as to show from the right side only when the fabric is stretched.

The invention is not limited to Wool garments but is to be understood as to be applicable to any hand knitted fabric, however used, and regardless of the material employed, wool, silk,

cotton, linen`or rayon. The term yarn as used herein is intended to cover any of these materials. The elastic thread may consist of a rubber fllament having a thread sheathing, or of any other durable thread having considerable elasticity. The term two needles is intended to include 5 the opposite ends of the single circular needle used in knitting tubular garments.

In plain knitting, consisting of alternate rows of knitted and purled stitches, the elastic thread, as stated, appears on the reverse side of the 10 fabric. With a ribbed fabric used for waist, neck or wrist bands, the elastic thread will alternate from the right to the reverse side.

All modifications of method and fabric Within the scope of the hereto appended claims are in- 15 tended to be covered by the patent. The novel method of hand knitting of my invention and one type of fabric produced thereby are illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are views in perspective of 20 the knitting needles and partially completed fabric with the needles shown in four successive positions;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. l but illustrating the formation of purling stretches, the work be- 25 ing turned so'that the reverse side is shown; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary diagrammatic View of the fabric showing the reverse side.

The elastic thread is not shown knitted into the fabric in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, or in Fig. 3, except 30 in connection with the stitch being formed, as such thread does not show on the right side of the fabric without stretching the stitches, which in the drawing are not shown stretched but merely enlarged. 35

The fabric as here shown is one produced by alternate rows of knitted and purled stitches, Figs. 1 to 4 showing the formation of the knitted stitches. In making the purled stitches the elastic thread is manipulated in exactly the same 40 way, that is, the elastic thread is held for one stitchv above the needles' and for the next stitch below the needles, in the same way as in making the knitted stitches. The purled stitches are made accordingto the usual method of purling. 45 Hence it has been thought suincient to illustrate only one, i. e., the first, position of the needles in the purling operation.

In all of thegures A designates the yarn and B the elastic thread, the fabric as a whole being 50 is transferred, stitch by stitch, from the left hand needle to the right hand needle. The yarn A is wrapped around the forenger of the right hand, the elastic thread B being wrapped around the forenger of the left hand. Fig. 2 shows the next operation. The yarn A has been looped over the point of needle D. This catches the elastic thread B into the fabric as the stitch is completed in the usual way; the new stitch being indicated at ll, Fig. 3, with the elastic thread B shown as being caught into the loop at i2.

Fig. 4 corresponds to Fig. 3 and illustrates the formation of the next stitch. The yarn A is looped over the point of the right hand needle D, the same as before, but the elastic thread B is now brought below the needles, by bending down the right forenger so that it is caught into the fabric in the formation of this next stitch.

The position of the needles, asY shown in Fig. 4, is brought about by thrusting the right hand needle D through the loop I3 on the left hand needle E. The operation is then completed in the manner indicated by Fig. 3 which shows the completion of the previous stitch.

In the particular method illustrated after a row of knitted stitches has been formed, the operator turns the work around and works back with a row of purled stitches. The rst position of the needles in purling is shown in Fig. 5. The elastic thread B is held up by the forenger and the yarn A is looped around needle E, now held in the right hand, catching the thread. The next operations, so far as the manipulations of the elastic threads are concerned, are the same as in knitting.

The relation of the strands of elastic thread to the knitted structure formed by the yarn is ilylustrated in the diagram, Fig. 6. The elastic thread B is preferably floated or drifted through the knitted fabric composed of the yarn A in such away that it is not looped around or knotted to the yarn strands but has a floating relation with the same. This economizes the elastic thread and also insures a full stretch of the fabric transversely, while tending to check stretching in the other direction, the elastic thread having capacity for stretching in the direction of its length to as great an extent as the transverse stretch of the knitted yarn structure, which, of course, will stretch because of the relative looseness of stitches and due to the capacity, in some cases, of the yarn itself to stretch. When the fabric'is relieved of the stresses tending to stretch it laterally, the resiliency of the elastic thread will bring the stitches back into their normal shape and relationship, even if some permanent stretch has been given to the yarn. In this Way tl'ie tendency of the garment to sag is counteracted in a large measure.

As shown in Fig. 6, which illustrates the reverse side of the fabric, the elastic thread passes back and forth rst .over and then under the yarn strands on the reverse side of the fabric without crossing the yarn strands on the "right side of the fabric. In this preferred, but not necessary, arrangement the elastic thread is hidden, when the fabric is viewed from the right side except when transverse stretching takes place, because, normally, the vertical rows of stitches or loops, shown as spread apart for clearness of illustration in Fig. 5, lie one close to the other.

The invention is not to be considered as limited to the particular type of knitted fabric shown and described. The elastic thread need not be drifted through every row of stitches or through each stitch of the row. In knitting a tubular fabric, such as a skirt, all of the stitches will be knitted stitches, none purled stitches.

I claim:

1. Method of hand knitting by use of two pointed needles on one of which the stitches are formed successively which comprises causing an elastic thread to be passed, during the knitting operation, through the inter-engaged stitch forming loops of the yarn constituting the body of the knitted fabric.

2. Method of hand knitting by use of two pointed needles on one of which the stitches are formed successively which comprises causing an elastic thread to be drifted, during the knitting operation, through the knitted fabric, transversely thereof, with the thread alternately passing under and over the strands of the yarn so as to have a floating relation with the knitted structure.

3. Method of hand knitting by use of two pointed needles on one of which the stitches are formed successively which comprises causing an elastic thread to be drifted through the knitted fabric by alternately raising the elastic thread above and bringing it below the needles so that it Will be caught into the fabric as the yarn is looped about the needle on which the stitches are formed.

4. Method of hand knitting by use of two pointed needles on one of which the stitches are formed successively which comprises causing an elastic thread to be drifted through the knitted fabric by alternately raising the elastic thread above and bringing it below the needles so that it will be caught into the fabric as the yarn is looped about the needle on which the stitches are formed, and forming successive transverse rows of stitches by valternate knitting and purling.

5. Method of hand knitting by use of two Y pointed needles on one of which the stitches are formed successively which comprises causing an elastic thread to be drifted through each transverse row of knitted stitches by alternately raising the elastic thread above and bringing it below the needles at alternate stitches so that it is' caught into the fabric as the yarn is looped about the needle on which the stitches are formed, and forming successive transverse rows of stitches alternately by knitting and purling.

NAN GILPIN. 

